Reuniting Memories
by Vampiresswolf
Summary: Two years and three months ago, Nico disappeared from the park. Now that Percy has found him again, will he be able to bring back the man he knew and loved? Will Nico be able to remember or will the horrors plague him forever? Nicery. b/b, g/g, b/g/b, etc.


Reuniting Memories

Vampiresswolf

A/N: Okay, okay. I know. I REALLY shouldn't be starting yet another story when I have so many to finish. But ever get that incredible, insatiable urge that you absolutely HAD to write something? Well, I should have used it for my English report, but this is what came out instead. I have been wanting to write this for a while. I hope you enjoy!

As always, what is recognizable as Rick Riordan's is not mine (which is pretty much everything but the plot)

Ch. 1

Beep. Beep. Beeeep.

Beep. Beep. Beeeep.

He lay there silently, having given up so long ago he couldn't even remember anymore. Where was he? Who was he? How long had he been here? None of it mattered, not really. What mattered was the Sound was back. When the Sound was around, he was safe. When the Sound was around, he was not in pain.

He couldn't see anything. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as though it had something to do with the bandages wrapped around his head. He wondered whether he should hope they didn't experiment on his eyes this time, though the evidence to the contrary was overwhelming.

The steady Sound meant he would be getting the Injection soon. The Injection was a concoction of stuff that kept him alive. He wondered, once in a while, whether the concoction was necessary, as he did not ever see the Coats with Injection scars.

He knew that he was in a hospital. He knew that he hadn't been here his whole life. Sometimes, during Sound times, he would get flashes of feelings that seemed important. But for the most part, he knew nothing. Maybe those things were just figments of his imagination. After all, besides the Coats, everything was a plain stainless steel or white. No colors other than those in the vials that were shoved in him, nothing besides the stains that accompanied stiches in his skin and pain.

To him, before that day, nothing existed.

**Percy's POV**

Two years and three months. That was how long it had been since he had seen Nico. Two years and three months of torture.

They had no leads. Rachel hadn't given them anything and the day he disappeared he had been out playing with Lucas, Annabeth's five year old son.

Oh, it had been a surprise, no doubt, when the young child had come running back, crying. He had told them that he had been playing with Bones, which was the name he had given to the skeleton cat that Nico had first summoned for him when he was three and crying for a pet. The boy brought back the bones of Bones, and when he told him how suddenly the cat had fallen apart, and he had looked up to find Nico gone, Percy instinctively knew it wasn't natural.

After all, his boyfriend loved children. He regularly took Lucas and Melanie to the park. And Lucas had learned what shadow travel looked like, and even if it hadn't been a bright sunny day at noon, he would have known if his guardian had left.

Two years and three months ago, he had stood there, horrified. Of course, Annabeth wasn't able to join him on his search. After all, she had her children to think about. Which meant that Piper wasn't allowed to either. He had searched out the two people he knew would help him. Nico's sister, Hazel, and his best friend, Jason. Accompanying them throughout their journey was Reyna, Jason's fiancé. Hazel's boys were at home able to entertain themselves.

But looking up at this building now, he knew innately that his love was inside. The place was depressing, to say the least. It was windowless, set back in the wilderness so far no one would find it if they hadn't been flown there by a certain son of the sky god. And it was surrounded by barbed wire electrified fences and guard dogs.

Which, when you are four demigods, three children of the eldest, well. Those weren't exactly a problem.

Getting in was the easy part. It would be getting out that would be the problem. If Nico was here, of course. If not, they'd be on their way to the next possible location. But Percy knew that this was the place. The tug in his gut was more than just a hopeful pull. Those sorts of things had gone away about a year ago.

"This is a research facility. Why would they have him here?" Percy looked over at Reyna, and he could see the boredom in her eyes. She hadn't been for this rescue from the beginning, and even the light had gone from Jason's eyes as well.

Only his and Hazel's held any sort of superhuman hope.

"I can feel him." Percy stated, resolute, and even Hazel nodded this time.

"You can feel children of the Gods. I can feel my brother here."

The two less than hopeful demigods gestured forward, telling them to lead the way. Which they did. Percy twisted Annabeth's cap in his hand, hoping this would give him back his love for real.

"There." Hazel whispered, pointing to a room in which a scientist had just left. They slipped back into the shadows and listened.

"Subject 813 has been put out for the night." She spoke into a recorder beside the door, "His vitals are normal and he seems to have no ill effects from the dye today. No progress has been made to determine the cause of the sorcery. Will try mind manipulation starting in the morning, should his cognitive functions prove to be high enough." She put the recorder back into the slot and sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"Theresa, you look exhausted." A male scientist walked up to her and she lowered her hand, giving him a weak smile.

"I'm not sure what Professor Nabine expects to get out of him. Is he even certain what he saw was real? We've had this subject for so long with no conclusive results."

The man smiled at her as they turned to walk down the hallway, "We have nine more months before Nabine will be willing to terminate…" Their conversation faded out, and the demigods looked at each other.

"It's him. It must be!" Hazel's eyes held a crazed glimmer, which was reflected in Percy's own.

"Only one way to find out." Jason said, and when Percy looked into his eyes, he saw determination and just a slight glimmer of something more.

They waited until the lights had turned out. Only the exit signs and emergency lights glowed through the dimness.

"There is a lock."

"Too bad Travis isn't here."

"We can crack it." Percy's voice held barely restrained determination and desperation as he stuck Riptide, pen form, to the lock on the door and uncapped it. It immediately broke the lock, and when he looked over, he saw Hazel's grim smile as she held the remainder of the codebox in her hands, her dagger slipping back into her sheath.

Percy felt a moment's hesitation, but anxiety won out and he reached for the knob, twisting it open.

What he saw on the other side made his knees weak. Out of both sadness and pure joy. There, on a table in front of him was what was undeniably Nico. He had scars all up and down his body. His head was in some sort of machine, and he was hooked up intravenously to a multitude of others.

He wore nothing but a white hospital gown. His arms and legs were strapped down, and when he went over to his head, he realized the cuff around his head was both restraint and some sort of machine as well. His hair had been shaved into a short army cut and his muscles looked as though they hadn't been used at all for the last couple years.

"Oh, Nico. What did they do to you?" Percy reached forward to touch the bandages around Nico's head, covering his eyes.

"Stop worrying about him and help us free him. You'll have the rest of eternity to fondle his injured body." Percy looked up into Reyna's stern gaze, but nodded, taking his sword to the bonds.

Everything was quiet until the IVs were removed, at which point a loud siren blared and red lights went off.

"Hurry!"

**Nico POV**

When he next gained consciousness, he realized something was different. He was unsure what it was, exactly, until he realized the straps that had been his only friends and the cold metal of the skin-piercing needles was missing.

The next thing he noticed was that his head felt free, he was on something… soft? And something… no… some_one_ has ahold of his hand.

"Nico?" The voice was unfamiliar, and yet, it made him feel safe, as though he knew the sound from a previous life.

He opened his eyes and immediately closed them to the bright glare. He slowly tried again, and the first thing he saw was a concerned looking man sitting in a chair next to him. His eyes were a striking green and his hair a mop of black.

"Nico! You're awake!" The man gasped and reached forward, pulling him into his arms and pressing his lips to his, at which he frowned. "How are you feeling?"

His first dozen attempts to speak failed, but soon he got the hang of it. "Who are you?"


End file.
